For My Sister

LOTS of birthdays in the family this month--5! Three of them are this week!! Today is my sister's 41st birthday. No big celebration like last year (I sent her 40 pieces of her favorite toffee from our favorite chocolate shop), but that doesn't mean her day should pass without acknowledging her and what makes her special.

This card utilizes another favorite color combination (Tempting Turquoise and Gable Green) that I won't be able to craft with after June 30, when GG is retired. I'm not planning on stocking up on retiring colors; there are new options and I'm going to embrace change! If you don't feel similarly though, I would advise you to act immediately and shop online to get what you'd like to have and hoard.

This card is fairly simple. It was inspired by one I saw online, but when I went back to find it, I couldn't. This one by Nancy Riley comes closest to what I saw. I stamped the grass image from Inspired by Nature in Garden Green on Whisper White card stock. I stamped it again on a smaller piece and matted it with GG and TT. The butterfly is from Flight of the Butterfly, and the solid 'fly is inked in TT and stamped off once, and the overlay of flowers is not.

Deciding where to place the greeting was the most challenging part of this entire layout. I finally went with the plain "Happy Birthday" from It's Your Birthday and determined the more meaningful sentiment would go on the inside.

My sister has not always been my confidante; we fought as kids and I even pulled her hair and strong armed her at times to try to get her to do what I wanted her to do. Today, though, we are close, and I'm so thankful to have her not only as a sibling but as a friend. She's been there for almost everything and she loves me. She's an amazingly talented pianist, incredibly organized household manager, and unconditionally loving wife and mother. Hugs from here, sister! Wish we could go for lunch.